Nvidia Optimus is a hybrid GPU system which utilises what is known as discrete switching and has been long associated with headaches and limitations on Linux systems. After years of wait, Ubuntu 14.04 with its shiny new kernel finally shipped with proprietary driver compatibility that can be installed easily. This article will guide you through the installation process after quick background of Nvidia Optimus for the unfamiliar readers. For the seasoned destroyer of Xorg configuration, you can quickly jump to the installation section below.
David REVOY Author, 01 june 2014, 21:37 - Reply @Michał : Hey, yes, I tested last week on 17 RC release , to check the Gnome Wacom support's fork. I'm happy it's work ok for you. For me , it wasn't good news, as you know, the Wacom support of Mint 17 looks sort of based on Gnome 3.8 wacom panel ( as far as I could guess by the design of the GUI ). Ubuntu Unity 14.04 is also based on Gnome 3.8 wacom panel. Even 'Ubuntu Gnome edition', prentending shipping Gnome 3.10 pack a regression : the Control Center Version 3.8 ( but write on their website it's Gnome 3.10 - and duh ! - even not written in the release notes .... :o ). A lot of things got fixed after 3.12 ( especially for Cintiqs , OLED and GUI ). For my dual tablets, and Cintiq, I can't use this 3.8 version, I also have issue for mapping certain shortcuts to buttons. It's now 10 time better ; Check this video -Jou8s to see new version running. A pity *this* wasn't forked in Mint, because I know they renamed all 'Wacom tablet' to 'tablet' only to make this part on their code, and this work on their side will certainly block an easy port from 3.8 to 3.12 Wacom libs...
Kubuntu 14.04 installation notes (Intel Bumblebee)
David REVOY Author, 03 june 2014, 22:22 - Reply @Michał : Hey, yes on UbuntuGnome 14.04 I use the staging-ppa to get Gnome 3.12 full. But I'm studying Fedora to move to it ( I need to learn about repo, packaging and firewall ). For Krita, the Kubuntu-update ppa got already 2.8.2 and soon 2.8.3 kubuntu-ppa/ ; Ubuntu in general is really fastly outdated... too bad
Michał 04 june 2014, 01:06 - Reply Thanks for the repo, I was looking in kubuntu-backports.As for Ubuntu, I'm very disturbed when I look the direction they are heading... for now LM is my distro of choice but we will see how it's gonna be, especially with decission to stick with 14.04 as a base for next 3 releases.
David REVOY Author, 11 august 2014, 22:03 - Reply @Jose Navas : Hi Jose, Here is the difference : * Ubuntu use Unity desktop* Ubuntu Gnome is a Ubuntu variant who use the Gnome desktopYou can't choose the desktop during the installation. You need to choose before. You can still install another desktop environment on the top of any distribution, but it's often resulting into a mixed system, and so unregular system ( not tested ). An efficient way to find annoying bug never reported :)For a basic usage, Xubuntu, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Gnome or Kubuntu all are ok in 14.04 version . Just browse a bit on Youtube reviews, to see how they look, and install the one you prefer.
David REVOY Author, 20 march 2015, 11:54 - Reply @Darko : Hi, sorry you had to write your post a second time, and nice your phone and internet connexion on a train work good enough to use my crappy Html forms to enter a comment on website. I should really sit down a week and recode the website to be more 'phone' friendly. About your questions :>> 1. I have complex PSD files, tried opening them in latest krita and gimp in windows and they are no good. So my question in what format and how to save them so I will be able to use them or modify something when I switch to Linux.Unfortunately, I would answer 'PSD' ; but with a pass of cleaning and simplifying them a bit before in Photoshop.- You can keep all layer with blending modes, Krita does the convert pretty well. But Krita put a priority on the blending mode of the group; so, the blending mode on group/folder of layers might render differently. - You'll need to flatten the Layer Styles ; they coming soon in Krita, but I guess it will take a little year before they will be enough polished to be production-proof.- 'Clipping mask' are not compatible- Mask in general, and special channel to save selection don't save well. - Text and vector layers also. So to resume :Clean PSD to get only raster layers, using simple groups (in 'normal' blending mode) and your PSDs will be 'Linux' proofed>> 2.what distro to use? I have wacom intuos5 with Toshiba laptop with ati card.I use Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon 64bit at the moment. With years, I became confortable with the package mess of the 'buntu ecosystem, and Mint use this, the LongTermSupport of Ubuntu 14.04. Even if on a technological point of view, a lot of developpers don't like Ubuntu packaging ( they call Ubuntu/Mint user Noobs :-D ) ; on practical use , each Linux project tries to get 'user-friendly' installation for UbuntuLTS , and good support. That's a huge time saving in production when I need to install a software. Also the database of question/bug/solution online is big enough to solve any sort of problems or almost ; and support is till 2019 . That's the pro ;On the con side ; the package base is 'frozen' and a bit outdated ( it can be seen as a 'pro' because you get more stable version ) for eg. doesn't contain the last Krita ; you need to add repository ( something Krita website provide ) to get last version. For each 'new version' of a software, you'll need to add a new repo ; it's not a big deal, but I know groups of users ( on Fedora, Arch, Antergos, Manjaro ) considering the distro should always provide 'last package'. In my opinion, it's dynamite in production, I remember a time when I was under ArchLinux and received the new version of my FTP app, and it was really unusable... I had to rely on another (less good) app for my FTP transfert, and the time I lost to find the new apps and learn/setup it was big compare the time I'm loosing on 'buntu ecosystem to just add a repo for the apps I want to follow the new development.'Buntu ecosystem is large; I advice the LTS ; Long Term Support , the real release ; it's 14.04 now ( 14.10 or future 15.04 are just 'beta' version, done to get free beta tester ; and has only a 8 month support ) ; Mint is doing good with 17.1. You can choose many desktop environment, KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, Gnome, Unity etc... That's , in my opinion , the real choice to do.Good luck!
This happened both with a fresh installation, and after installing bumblebee. In both cases optimus was ON in the bios, but in the former case the system was falling back unity2D (I believe), and after installing bumblebee it uses unity3D (though always with the intel card). 2ff7e9595c
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